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Published Article

Barriers to Entry: Decomposing the Gender Gap in Job Search in Urban Pakistan

Gender gaps in labor market outcomes persist in South Asia. An open question is whether supply or demand side constraints play a larger role.  We investigate this using matched data from three sources in Lahore, Pakistan: representative samples of jobseekers and employers; administrative data from a job matching platform; and an incentivized binary choice experiment. Employers’ gender restrictions are a larger constraint on women’s job opportunities than supply-side decisions.   This demand-side gap in quantity of job opportunities closes as education levels increase and jobs become more “white-collar”. 

Title Barriers to Entry: Decomposing the Gender Gap in Job Search in Urban Pakistan
Author
  • Kate Vyborny
  • Nivedhitha Subramanian
  • Zunia Saif Tirmazee
  • Nikita Kohli
  • Elisabetta Gentile
Published in Journal of Labor Economics
Publication Date 01/12/2026
Thematic AreaCOVID-19
Project Characterizing Urban Labour Market Effects of COVID and Speeding Recovery Through a Job Search Platform
See Published Article

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